How widespread was opposition with Nazi Germany?

Throughout Germany there should have many many threats/oppositions against the Nazis, however this was not the case. At every election the Nazis gained more and more votes for them however they never achieved the majority of them. In 1928 the Nazis only had 3% of the votes, in 1932 they had 37% and in 1933 they still only had 44%. There were three reasons why they were not popular, their ideas were too extreme, 1924-29 were the Golden Twenties and the working call voters (which were the majority of people) did not like the Nazis. However during the Golden Twenties the Nazis had been building up the amount of voters, their main voters were farmers because the Nazis promised to pay a higher amount of money for the crops they produced and the elderly because they promised to pay higher pensions and restore the German pride. Yet even though the majority of the votes were against them they still ruled for 12 years. During the rule of the Nazis the people were scared to oppose them however the best time to do this was at the beginning before they established total control and during the war because they were more occupied with fighting. In this essay I am going to look at the different factors to why people supported them and didnt, also how widespread was the opposition with Nazi Germany. When the Nazis took control not all of the German people opposed them, some of the groups who strongly supported the Nazis were farmers and elderly. This was because the Nazis promised to pay higher amounts of money for the crops the farmers produced and the Nazis promised to give the elderly higher pensions. Other people who strongly supported the Nazis were the higher businesses because they were frightened of communism taking control. If communism took control then all of the higher working people would get the same wage as those who werent earning as much in their profession. Some Germans changed their views on the Nazis as they gained control; this was because of the propaganda that was pinned up around town which brainwashed the people into believing that the Nazis were good and helping their country, the jobs and education for the younger people. Education was not a big threat to the Germans because they brainwashed the younger children in the education. German people were also frightened of the Nazis and supported them because of their fear and suspicions. If anyone did not support the Nazis they were sent to concentration camps and brain washed into believing that the Nazis were good. These are the only groups who liked the Nazis and strongly supported them when they first became in control because of fear and bribery. The Nazis has most support in NE of Germany, they had been separated from the rest of Germany in the Treaty of versaille. The least support was in the west of Germany near the border of France, this is where most of the fighting had been in World War 1. Most popular age for support of the Nazis was 1830 because of education and jobs, least popular amongst the age groups are 41-55 because they had lived and fought in the war and also popular with elderly because they were promised better pensions. This shows that the Nazis were starting to take control over Germany and the support for this was soon widespread.

Although Nazi support was beginning to become more widespread throughout Germany there was still opposition against them, the former political were the Nazis most obvious opposition aswell as the most immediate threat to them and also included groups like the Communists and the Socialist Parties. These were huge organisations and they still lost the elections in 1933 with millions of members. This group wanted to remove the Nazis to restore Germany to democracy. The members met in secret, wrote anti- Nazi graffiti on walls and tried to get the workers in factories to go on strike but failed. The Nazis dealt with this opposition by making a law and banning all opposition parties. Thousands of their opponents were arrested and put into concentration camps where they were beaten up and tortured some were even killed. This was to scare other people into joining the Nazis or keep them quiet. Many left the country and went abroad and waited for the day when Nazi rule came to an end. The Churches should have been a massive threat to the Nazis as 90% of the Germans belonged to a church. 32% of Germans were Roman Catholics and the other 58% belonged to various protestant churches. The churches were the largest anti-Nazi groups in Germany but both demanded loyalty. The churches demanded loyalty to God where the Nazis demanded loyalty to Hitler. Most of the Church leaders were Nazis however were against the idea of them. Many of them believed the religions should be kept separate. But the Nazis hated Christianity and believed that Nazism was a religion but they did not dare to try and shut down the Churches, instead they made deals with the different groups. With the Roman Catholic groups the Nazis made an agreement with the Pope that they would not interfere with the Churches if they stayed away from politics. And with the Protestant Churches the Nazis brought all the churches together and renamed them the Reich Church with a slogan A swastika on our chests and a cross in our hearts. Army Officers could have been a serious threat to the Nazis and many of them did not like Hitler as a leader. These officers were normally upper class and came from families who fought many years and been a soldier for many years and the officers looked down on Hitler as he only made his rank of corporal in the army. Many of the officers thought that his ideas were too extreme but the Nazis made them swear an oath of loyalty, not to the country but to Hitler. He also chose them above his own private army which was the SA which he demonstrated during The Night of the Long Knives where many SA officers were killed. Young people were never a major threat to the Nazis however the Nazis still dealt with them when they thought they were becoming a threat. There were two groups for young people, the Edelweiss Pirates and The White Rose Group. The Edelweiss Pirates was the group Nazis did not like. They were not a large group and the gang was in most of the large cities of Germany. They wore an Edelweiss badge and grouped together to sing anti Nazi songs and avoided going to the Hitler Youth meetings. On some occasions they became more serious when they started attacking the Nazis members. Although the Nazis did not like this group they didnt take much action as they werent a serious threat to them. However in 1944 a Hitler Youth Leader as killed by some of the members in the Edelweiss Pirate group and as a result some of them were hanged in revenge. The other group the

White Rose group was only small made up of students based in Munich who also opposed the Nazis. They wanted people to stop supporting the Nazis and handed out anti Nazi leaflets to the public and wrote anti Nazis graffiti on walls. They were disgusted when people still supported them but the Nazis did not take them as a threat although they still dealt with them by arresting the leaders, toured them then executed them. The Nazis had many oppositions but dealt with them all and the opposition against them became smaller and smaller. Sidney Hook spoke up and used this quote, To silence criticism is to silence freedom [1]. Sidney Hook meant that Hitler silenced everyone, their opinions and silenced their freedom stopping them doing what they want to gain control of Germany and making everyone live in fear. The Nazis were very successful dealing with threats that many groups fired at them. They identified potential threats and dealt with them before they became major. Also there was a lack of trust amongst the Germans because of the fear of suspicion. The Germans had no idea of who was listening in to them and did not dare to oppose of Hitler in fear of getting sent to one of these concentration camps or even killed, also the fear caused a lack of organisation in the German public. The political threats should have been greater and stronger towards the Nazis however they underestimated them and refused to unite together to make opposition and threat stronger. The church also did not provide any opposition against them and just simply agreed to the deal Hitler made with them. Opposition was not widespread throughout Germany as Hitler dealt with the different threats that were fired at him. And soon the fear of Hitler grew and people dared not to oppose him and the threats towards Hitler grew smaller and smaller. Most Germans has been won over by Nazis Many people in Germany hated the Germans but during the years they started to change their views on them. Mainly because they started to believe Hitler was another Jesus and changed the way Germany was run, also some were too scared to speak up and just agreed to him. [1] Sidney Hook- To silence criticism is to silence freedom [2] Frank McDonagh Opposition and Resistance in Nazi Germany